Underside of elevators and tail skid

Sopwith Triplane

Finished nacelle / prop

Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu (Nick) - Finished

Finished

FW-190A-4

Turret detail

IDF M60A1 Magach 6B

Finished 2

L-29 Delfin Weekend Edition

Finished - Exhausts

Chinese J-11B

Painted left side

Yakolev UT-3 (3rd Version)

Turret parts

Leopard 2 A6/A6M

Marking and paint options 3, 4

Studebaker US6-U3

Right front

Fiat Br. 20

Previous Next

Welcome to the IPMS/USA Reviews site!

Introduction: The primary organization of the IPMS/USA Review website is by IPMS/USA National Contest Class. Within each Class there are sub-menus by kits, decals, books, etc. The Miscellaneous Class is for items that are not class specific or that cross two or more classes.

IPMS/USA Members: We encourage you to submit reviews, both here and to the Journal. To volunteer for membership in the IPMS/USA "Reviewers Corps" and submit your own reviews, please read the Guidelines For Submitting Product Reviews.

Manufacturers, publishers, and other industry members: IPMS/USA is pleased to offer your company the opportunity for product reviews. All product reviews are performed by IPMS/USA members, and are posted in the publicly-accessible section of our website. With very few exceptions, we perform full build reviews of new kit releases, aftermarket products, and supplies. If you would care to provide product samples for review, please contact John Noack, IPMS/USA 1st VP.

To learn more about IPMS/USA, please see our About Us page.

Box Art

Magach 6B GAL
Review Author
Eric Christianson
Published on
December 19, 2020
Company
AFV Club
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$124.99

AFV Club has released yet another version of Israeli’s rework of the venerable American M60 Main Battle Tank. This time around we meet the ‘Magach 6B GAL’ – a version that, as far as I know, has only been reproduced in 1/35th scale with the help of an after-market Legend set. ‘Magach’, Hebrew for ‘battering ram’, has no less than six origins in Wikipedia, so I’ll let the reader decide where this moniker actually came from. Needless to say, these ‘re-wired’ M48 and M60 tanks proved to be equal to the task of filling the gap between earlier, British and WWII armor and the current Merkava armor types – the final conversion occurring in 2006.

Italeri Field Howitzer

15cm Field Howitzer/10.5cm Field Gun
Review Author
Mike Lamm
Published on
December 19, 2020
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$27.99

The 150 mm SFH18 Howitzer was widely deployed by the German army on all the key fronts during World War 2. Developed in secret, during the years limiting German rearmament under the conditions in the Treaty of Versailles, when Germany began their rearmament in 1933, it was a fully functioning design ready for immediate deployment. Interestingly enough, its first combat use was by the Chinese National Revolutionary Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War. The SFH18 had a simple and reliable design and a maximum range of 13.5 km. The gun and its limber could be separated and towed by horses, or more commonly by a half-track. A less common 105mm version was also developed and shared the same carriage as the 150mm version.

Brengun Dauntless Wheels

Dauntless Wheels
Review Author
Michael Novosad
Published on
March 12, 2021
Company
Brengun
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$7.75

Background

Brengun is known for its range of photo-etched sets and resin accessories for airplane models. They also produce model kits in 1/48th, 1/72nd and 1/144th scales. Brengun's product line includes several scales for resin accessories, photoetch, paint masks, and resin and plastic kits.

Their products are available directly from an e-shop or from distributors (list included on their web site). I checked the USA distributors as listed on the Brengun website but found none of them listed this product at the time of this review.

Air War on the Eastern Front

Air War on the Eastern Front
Book Author(s)
Mike Guardia
Review Author
James Kelley
Published on
December 19, 2020
Company
Casemate UK
MSRP
$24.95

The Red Air Force versus the Luftwaffe in the skies over Eastern Europe.

June 1941: Having conquered most of Western Europe, Adolf Hitler turned his attention to the vast Soviet Union. Disregarding his Non-Aggression Pact with Joseph Stalin, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, a full-scale invasion of the Soviet homeland aimed squarely at Moscow.

In the skies over Russia, the battle-hardened airmen of the Luftwaffe made short work of the Red Air Force during opening days of Barbarossa. To make matters worse, Stalin had executed many of his best pilots during the perennial "purges" of the 1930s. Thus, much of the Red Air Force was destroyed on the ground before meeting the Luftwaffe in the skies. By 1944, however, the Soviet airmen had regained the initiative and fervently wrested air superiority from the now-ailing Axis Powers.

Product Picture

M4A2 Sherman U.S. Marine Corps
Review Author
Blaine Singleton
Published on
December 13, 2020
Company
Italeri
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$52.99

History

This kit is a rerelease from an older one by Italeri. What has changed is the decal sheet. The kit is an easy build in one of four different versions, and I have chosen to model the Marine Corps Pelielu Island from August 1944.

In the Box

The contents of the kit are on five olive green styrene sprues. Also included in the box are a set of rubber tracks, a piece of plastic mesh for the deep wading tank screens, and decals for 4 schemes. There are evident sink marks throughout, mostly in places that would not be normally seen.

The kit instructions are a large booklet with 9 steps to complete the model. The ninth step shows assembly and application of the deep wading vents for one of the versions.

The four versions of the model are: